$2 Waves 3D Gesture Into Any Device

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Any embedded device can made to recognize 3D gestures in mid-air, with the addition of the new GestIC from Microchip Technology Inc. (Chandler, Arizona). Microchip supplies all the chips, development software and know-how, it claims, to enable engineers to quickly make any embedded device smart enough to respond to commands drawn in mid-air with your bare hands.

Microchip says its newest GestIC -- the MGC3030 -- can control virtually anything with 3D gestures in mid-air. (Source: Microchip)

The $2 GestIC (MGC3030 in a SSOP28 package) includes a three-dimensional (3D) gesture processing unit that makes the engineers' job easy -- according to Duvenhage -- by detecting a wide variety of gestures with built-in algorithms. The GestIC is inexpensive enough for smart toys, yet smart enough to control audio systems, security systems, lighting systems and any other embedded application that could work smarter with gesture control, the company claims.

Microchip's latest GestIC accepts five sensor inputs to its gesture processing unit that can be programmed to recognize virtually any (reasonable) gesture to control device functions. (Source: Microchip)

The free, downloadable Aurea graphical user interface (GUI) which allows engineers to quickly configure the input-output ports to communicate with the host application processor or even directly control external devices without an application processor. The on-chip gesture processing unit is actually a 32-bit digital signal processor (DSP) with the built-in firmware to recognize gestures made over very simple sensors, eliminating the need for a camera or host processor.

A GestIC transmitter sends the 3D in-mid-air gesture sensed to the MGC3030, which recognizes the gesture and sends its name over to the application processor to execute. (Source: Microchip)

Microchip's Colibri Gesture Suite maintains an on-chip library of algorithms for engineers to use when recognizing sophisticated gestures, according to Microchip. Whenever possible, Colibri recognizes natural intuitive gestures without the need for physically touching the device, such as flicks for switching modes or circles drawn in mid-air to control continuous functions. Proximity, sliders for adjusting analog functions like volume control of audio or brightness of lighting are all built-in.

The GestIC development kit (DM160226) includes a five sensor board (top) and receiver chip (bottom right) and the gesture processing unit chip (bottom left) that interfaces to the application processor via USB.
(Source: Microchip)

Power savings in achieved by automatic wake-up whenever a hand is in proximity and auto-sleep when a hand is out of proximity keeping the steady-state power consumption under 100 micro-Watts, allowing the embedded device to be always-on without running down its the battery of mobile devices, according to Microchip.

The Woodstar Development Kit (MGC3030) includes all the parts needed to prototype an application and comes with all the chips and software mentioned above.

Microchip's family of GestICs and development kits enable embedded devices of any type to become super-smart by recognizing both touch and 3-D gestures in mid-air.

Dr. Quine: Yes I noticed that too, except when she got into the car she did some mid-air waving over the console. That movie, however, was not dedicated to gesture control, it was an earlier production that showed all of what Microchip does. Thanks for the careful analysis.

Having standard 3-D gestures in mid-air sounds like a benefit since it would eliminate the need to learn a new interface for every new device we meet. That said, most of the examples in the movie were direct touch interfaces which are already broadly available (car access, house security keypad). The most innovative element seemed to be the virtual screen implementation illustrated as a computer interface.

You've got to watch the movie art the end to appreciate all the uses for this $2 Microchip that adds gesture recognition to any device, eliminating the need for touchscreen, knobs and every other control surface, even mechanical buttons.